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Family and marriage

Sunday, September 20 2015, 10:35 PM

Issue - Increase in Median age of marriage

New Census data released by the government on Monday shows that the median age at the time of marriage has increased across categories of people and genders.
  The data, released by the Registrar-General and Census Commissioner, show that the median age for men increased to 23.5 at the time of the 2011 Census, from
22.6 as per the 2001 figures. These numbers were 19.2 years and 18.2 years for women in the respective years.
  As per experts, this trend will continue due to the socio-economic changes taking place in the country

. Reasons for the upswing

Increasingly mobile and migratory nature of work in the country.
  This migrant population has different priorities which have an effect on the ages the people get marriedat.
  However, migration is only part of the explanation since the increase in the age at the time of marriagewas seen among marginal workers and non-workers as
well. The median age for marginal workers increased from 21.8 to 22.5 for men and from 17.6 to 18.7 forwomen.
 For non-workers, the age at the time of marriage increased from 22.8 to 23.5 for men and from 18.5 to19.4 for women.The other reason for the change could be higher
levels of school enrolment. School enrolment is about 90 per cent everywhere, across most castes

Family and kinship

A
family, contains people who are linked by sexual and affinal relationships as well as those linked by descent who are linked by secondary relationships, that i
The structure of the family can be studied both as a social institution in itself and also in its relationship to other social institutions of society.
In itself a family can be defined as nuclear or extended. It can be male-headed or female-headed.
The line of descent can be matrilineal or patrilineal.
This internal structure of the family is usually related to other structures of society, namely political, economic, cultural etc
Nuclear and Extended Family
A Nuclear Family Consists Of Only One Set Of Parents And Their Children.
An extended family (commonly known as the ‘joint family’) can take different forms, but has more than one couple, and often more than two
generations, living together.
This could be a set of brothers with their individual families, or an elderly couple with their sons and grandsons and their respective families. The extended family
often is seen as symptomatic of India.
Diverse forms of families
With regard to the rule of residence, some societies are matrilocal in their marriage and family customs while others are patrilocal.
In the first case, the newly married couple stays with the woman’s parents, whereas in the second case the couple lives with the man’s parents.
With regard to the rules of inheritance, matrilineal societies pass on property from mother to daughter while patrilineal societies do so from father to
son.
A patriarchal family structure exists where the men exer cise authority and dominance, and matriarchy where the women play a similarly dominant
role.
However, matriarchy – unlike patriarchy – has been a theoretical rather than an empirical concept.
There is no historical or anthropological evidence of matriarchy – i.e., societies where women exercise dominance.
However, there do exist matrilineal societies, i.e., societies where women inherit property from their mothers but do not exercise control over it, nor
are they the decision makers in public affairs.
Social Processes Affecting Family Structure
Industrialisation -  Nuclearisation of the family is considered as the outcome of its impact
Urbanisation - 
due to the influence of urbanisation, the joint family structure is under severe stress, and in many cases it has developed a tendency toward nuclearisatio
Modernisation - 
With the passage of time, through exposures to the forces of modernisation, family structure underwent multiple changes almost leading to an endless va
Change In The Joint Family System

the joint family system in India is undergoing a process of structural transformation due to the process of modernisation, industrialisation and urbanisati
But the fact remains that the values and attitudes of the Indian society have favoured the joint family tradition for centuries, and these are still favoured.
Many scholars have viewed the transformation in the joint family system in terms of the concept of the family cycle.

There is no denying the fact that the trend of modernisation has been dominant in India. However, the physical separation does not speak for the departure from

The sense of effective cooperation in need, and obligation to each other, have remained prevalent among the family members in spite of being separated 

Hence, we are required to understand not only the manifestation of nuclearisation of the family structure in India, but also the latent spirit of cooperation an
The extent of cooperation and the prevalence of common values and sentiments may vary in the rural and urban areas.
Some relevant facts
Large joint families are more prevalent in urban than rural areas and vary in prevalence with region and caste
Nuclear households are prevalent in villages as well as in cities
Such rural-urban distinctions might have been common in the past
Nuclear families in both villages and cities may grown into joint households and decline with separations and deaths into nuclear families again.
Change In The Rural Family System
Scholars have identified the joint family as typical of rural India.

These families are exposed to various forces, viz., land reforms, education, mass media, new technology, new development strategies, urbanisation, indu
These above-mentioned forces are found to exercise tremendous influence on the contemporary family systems in rural India.
One impact of this change is that of the diminishing authority of the patriarch of the joint family.
In a joint family, traditionally, authority rests on the eldest male member of the family. Once the family splits into several units, new authority centres emerge
there, with the respective eldest male member as the head of each nuclear unit.
Authority is also challenged frequently by the educated and the individualistic young generations. Youngmen exposed to modern ideas of freedom
and individualism show resentment to the traditional authority (Ibid.).
After the split in a joint family, women, who earlier had no say in the family affairs, also emerge as mistresses of the nuclear households with
enormous responsibility.
In this process of transition, the oldest woman also tend to lose their authority. Many of young women also challenge the dominating attitudes of the mothers-
in-law

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. Similarly, many of the traditional mothers-in-law also face an uneasy situation due to growing disproportionate individualism among the
daughters-in-law.
With the breakdown of the joint family system, the aged, widow, widower and other dependents in the family face severe problems.
The joint family system provides security to these people. After the breakdown of this family system, they are left to themselves.
In the rural area, the day care centres for the old or the children’s home for the orphan are not available.

Marriage
Marriage as an institution hasn’t broken down. It has changed
Changes in the marriage system
Economic Changes
modern industries have lessened the economic functions of the family and led to the replacement of Joint family structure with Nuclear families
Status of women in the family has improved as they have become more educated and started working, thus along with other male members in the
family ,they also now have a say in family issues.
In partner selection, job and salary are given more importance, than the family background , caste or religion.
Also the online matrimonial sites have come up which has reduced the role of elders of the family.
To fulfil career and individual ambitions , “delayed marriages” and “long –distance marriages” have become a common feature
Marriage is often held in cities more as a social or a civil ceremony than a religious ceremony.
The duration of marriage ceremony is also cut short in the city . Elaborate customs are either avoided or shortened ; court marriages preferred.
In cities, the cases of divorce , desertion , separation , broken families etc alongwith pre- marital and extra-marital sex relations are seen.
Social Changes
Modern education , values and western ideologies such as rationalism, individualism , equality  of sex, democracy , individual freedom ,
secularism , etc have influenced the outlook of educated young men and women. Hence, they want to take their own decisions and make choices on
the main events of their life such as line of education , job and marriage.
Cultural
Religious form of marriage is breaking down
Development of new forms of marriage is coming up - Contractual, Confluent
Influence of legislations on Marriage:
o Dowry Prohibition Act, 1996 , Domestic Violence Act( DVA) , 2005, etc - have made theposition of women stronger .Now the women are given justice
against the "invisible violence" at home-physical and verbal abuse,etc which they used to go through either because of dowry demands or otherwise.The
DVA, 2005, includes in its ambit live-in partners caters to the changing dynamics of relationships.
o The ‘divorce’ laws have been made more flexible with the amendment of The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 in 1986, by including the ground of
‘incompatibility’ and ‘mutual consent’ apart from the reasons provided earlier like adultery, conversion of religion, etc.
This has led to the institution of marriage more susceptible to conflicts, fights, giving lesser scope to “compromise” and time to save
marriage and family.
But on the other hand, it also gave the option to both men and women to come out of a “bad marriage” which they otherwise used to be in just
to fulfil societal obligations.o
Women are given right in the ancestral property and a legal right to share property along with male members, after the Hindu Succession Act of
1956 was amended in 2005. This has made the economic position of women stronger.

Issue - Arranged Marriages

Just over five per cent of urban India marries outside their caste, according to the India Human Development Survey II (IHDS-II), conducted by the National Council for
Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and the University of Maryland in 2012.
This percentage is only marginally higher than in rural India.

Trends
Individuals are participating with the help of online portals in arranging their marriages
notion of choice is incoprotate din the notion of norms
class is turing out to be the most important factor in arranging  marriages
oes not “merely mean economic backgrounds, but also shared cultural factors like styles of speech and shared aesthetic sensibilities in food, clothing, and other
items of taste,
may meet people, date people, and experiment with dating life, but will eventually make much more conventional marital choices.

Why preferred
More safer options as more relatives are involved
There are no dating conventions or mores for them to fall back upon, which often leads them right back to the tried and tested arranged marriage.

Confluent marriage - Level of compatibility (give and take) decides the contiunity 

Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2013

Background
The UPA government introduced the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill, proposing amendments to the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, and the Special Marriage Act,
1954, to make “irretrievable breakdown of marriage” a ground for divorce.
The Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha in 2013, but could not be taken up for discussion in the Lok Sabha.
This amendment was conceived mainly on the recommendation of the Law Commission and on the strength of suggestions from the Supreme Court in a
number of cases based on the experience of administering divorce laws.

Current Law
Under the current law, divorce is granted if a couple jointly files an application by mutual consent.
In case the divorce is contested, then the husband or the wife has to prove certain grounds under which a marriage can be dissolved. These include adultery, c

The Amendment Bill essentially sought to remove this lacuna by allowing either the husband or the wife to contend that there has been an irretrievable br

Positives
It would help expedite the process of divorce.
The wife also has the right to contest a divorce if she can prove she will be in grave financial hardship.
Under the law, any one party can file for divorce on this ground after a three year period of separation.

Opposition
Groups opposing the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill contend that it will cause an increase in “illegitimate and live­-
in relations and thereby a fall of the institution of marriage and family values.”
They fear crime rate and undue litigation will increase.
The provision (current law) for divorce by mutual consent adequately covers the situation of a marriage lapsing into dysfunction.

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It is argued that a woman could enter into a sham marriage and later walk away with the husband’s property by getting it annulled at will.

Rising divorces in IT/ITES sector

Indian IT/ITES industry has helped Indian economy in a profound way.It has it's imprint in every nook and corner of the world.The employees n the other hand
are facing problems in their personal lives.

Causes of divorces--->
--->Frequent foreign assignments---Disbalances work-family time chords.Expectation from Women diverges.
--->Erratic and long working hours---Indian s/w companies basically runs n the support projects and clients are based in other time zones, which makes the timing
problems in India.Women are the worst sufferer ;security reasons too.
--->OFFICE FRIENDS-> In India Women are still expected to keep themselves away from unknown "men", here interactions platform is present people become friends
and rumors or illicit relationships are also a cause.This is true for any profession and hence IT also.Vice -Versa is also true(for males).
----> Ambitions in life--> Many a times neither of the understands and accommodate or fine tune their aspirations with the aspirations of the family.
----> Ego clash, traditional role reversal of the genders, infertility owing to great wrk pressure.
4)Degradation of Value: The MNC culture has resulted in more materialism and consumerism which doesnot emphasize family values,thus being one of the major
reasons of growing divorce cases.

Implications on Women------>>>
(1)They ve to suffer a lot more in such scenarios, Indian society still abhors divorcees /widows.Good match finding pbm.
(2)Feeling of guilt and lack of confidence as she sees negativity and contempt for her in other's eyes.
(3)Untoward advances by the patriarchal mindset people/colleagues she faces many a times.

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